


Underwater

by Joe_Reaves



Category: Empire Records (1995)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst, First Time, M/M, Merpeople, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-10
Updated: 2010-04-10
Packaged: 2017-10-08 20:35:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/79290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joe_Reaves/pseuds/Joe_Reaves
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lucas feels like a disappointment to everyone and decides to throw himself into the ocean. He finds something that makes him change his mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Underwater

Lucas leaned on the rail and looked out over the Atlantic Ocean. He'd come back to Atlantic City, the place where everything had gone wrong, to think and maybe to do something about the mess he'd made of his life and nearly everyone else's lives too. He'd been standing at the end of Steel Pier for three hours now and it was going to close soon so he had to decide what to do - to go back and face Joe's disappointment or to take the other option. He looked back, over his shoulder, at the bright lights of Atlantic City; he heard the laughter and screams of people enjoying themselves and sighed - would anyone even miss him? They'd be better off if he wasn't there to screw things up. With that thought in mind he climbed the railing and paused for a second before stepping off and plunging into the icy water below.

He tried to fight his body's instinctive reaction and just sink into the waters below. Eventually he lost track of what was up or down and his vision started to grey around the edges as his brain reacted to the lack of oxygen. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement. A shape moved through the dark water towards him and Lucas was sure he must be hallucinating because it was a man ... with a tail.

The shape swam closer, his tail swishing from side to side as it powered the man through the water. Lucas' lungs had finally reached bursting point and he couldn't help but take a deep breath of sea water, panic filling him as the water flooded his lungs and suddenly he didn't want to die. He thrashed wildly, trying to get his leaden limbs to work, but it was too late.

The strange man grabbed him, and Lucas knew he had been right and the man was a figment of his imagination, because the man was Joe, and Lucas could say for a fact that Joe had a very nice pair of legs and a tight ass, not a scaly tail. Before he could work out what to do about this vision, the man kissed him, slipping his tongue past Lucas' cold, blue lips and into his mouth. Lucas groaned and grabbed the man's upper arms, holding on tight and thinking that if this was what dying was like then maybe it wasn't so bad after all because this was something he had wanted for years but never had the courage to ask for. The man pulled back, smoothing his hair out of his face with a gentle smile, and Lucas found that he was no longer struggling for breath; he was breathing the seawater as if it was air.

Joe, and Lucas was sure that it was Joe now, even if he wasn't the same as he always had been, glared at Lucas, showing the kind of fond exasperation that Lucas expected from him. That expression could only belong on Joe's face and Lucas moved closer to him, wondering how he could ask what was going on when they were underwater and he couldn't talk.

"Why did you do it?" Lucas grabbed his head with his hands as Joe's voice sounded loud and clear inside his head. He tried to speak to answer, but Joe just put a finger against his lips. "No, Lucas, just think. I'll hear you."

"How? I don't understand," Lucas thought. "How are you doing this? What are you? Why do you look so much like Joe? Why aren't I dead?"

Joe pulled him close. "You're not dead because I couldn't let you go without telling you I love you. Why did you do it, love? Why did you jump? Don't you know I couldn't live without you?" He kissed him desperately. "Don't leave me, please."

Lucas clung to him. "I'm sorry. I thought it was better like this. I messed up and nearly cost you the store. You broke the law to protect me and I couldn't bear to see how disappointed you were. I want you to be proud of me, but I keep screwing things up for you and you hate me now."

"Oh God," Joe thought. "No, no, love I don't hate you. I could never hate you. I'm so sorry if I made you feel like that. You're the most important thing in the world to me, far more important than any stupid music store. I would have saved and started over somewhere else, with you. I'm sorry I hurt you."

Lucas sniffled softly and wrapped his arms around Joe's neck, clinging tightly to him. "I love you and I never told you because I was scared, and then I stole from you. I thought you'd make me leave and I don't think I could. You saved me when I was thirteen, and I never want to be anywhere but right by your side."

"You idiot," he thought fondly. "I didn't fire you and I wouldn't have thrown you out." He kissed his hair. "Let me show you something?"

"Anything," Lucas thought fervently. "You know I always follow you wherever you go."

"I always thought that was because you were checking out my ass," Joe thought with a smile.

Lucas blushed and looked up at him. "You knew? Why didn't you ever say anything? And how is it you have a tail now instead of that sexy ass?"

Joe smiled. "I was waiting for you to be old enough and confident enough to make the first move, but you never did and I nearly lost you because of it. I thought you might say something when I didn't fire you and then when I flirted with Jane, but you didn't. And it would be pretty silly to still have legs when we're underwater, Lucas. A tail's much easier for swimming with, see for yourself."

"What do you mean?" he asked, confused. Joe just smiled and Lucas felt a tingling sensation in his legs. Looking down he squeaked in fright as his legs became a slender green tail, just like Joe's. "But how... why ... what? How am I going to ride my bike with a tail?"

Joe laughed and pulled him deeper into the ocean. "Forget your bike, you threw yourself off of a pier, remember? You're not going back."

Lucas let Joe pull him through the water, swishing his tail experimentally as they swam and trying to squash the feeling of wrongness that comment awoke in him. "Where are you taking me?"

"Just relax, love," Joe reassured him. "I'm going to take you somewhere special where we can be together forever. You never have to worry about anything again. You can stay with me now."

Again Lucas felt uncomfortable, but Joe was holding his hand and he didn't want to fight with him, so he let Joe pull him through the ocean and down, down, down, deep underwater to a crevasse. Lucas shivered as he swan through the narrow opening, but once through he was greeted by an incredible sight - clear, blue water, tall red trees of seaweed and fields of shorter green 'grass', shoals of multi coloured fish and towers of coloured corals and seashells.

"Wow," Lucas thought. "It's so beautiful."

"So are you." Joe pulled Lucas close and kissed him. "You can stay here with me and you never have to worry about disappointing anyone or messing things up ever again."

Lucas smiled and moaned into the kiss, but then pulled back. "I was wrong, Joe. I thought it would be better for everyone if I were dead, but that's not true. I want to go back."

Joe kissed him hungrily. "You don't mean that. You can stay here, with me. Let me show you how good we could be together," he thought softly, running his hands over Lucas' back. "Let's get you out of this silly clothing and I'll show you everything."

Lucas moaned and shivered. He still wanted to go back, but he needed Joe. He'd dreamed of being with him for so long that he couldn't turn down the chance when it was being offered to him. Joe's tail slid against his and wrapped around it, making him moan in surprise.

"Oh, Joe," he sighed. "That feels so good."

Joe just smiled and slid against him. "You feel good, Lucas." He pulled Lucas' wet shirt off and let it fall towards the ocean floor, running his hands over Lucas' bare skin. Lucas smiled and kissed him again eagerly.

"Show me what to do, Joe," he thought. "I want to feel you inside me. Is that even possible?"

"Yes it's possible," Joe told him fondly, his thoughts caressing Lucas' mind. "Out here where anyone could swim by? Or down in the grass where we would be more private. I want to make love to you slowly."

Lucas groaned and pulled Joe down towards the grass. "Show me!"

Joe laughed happily and kissed him, pressing him down into the soft grass and slowly exploring his neck and chest. He sucked a dark mark onto his throat. "I've wanted to do that for so long," he moaned.

Lucas gasped and arched up against him. "Please, Joe. Don't make me wait."

Joe chuckled softly and kissed his nose, pulling him up off the ground. "Swish your tail slightly so you float, love," he told him. Reaching around, he rubbed his hands over the top of Lucas' tail, making Lucas groan and flick his tail in pleasure. Slowly Lucas' cock hardened and slid out of the hidden sheath protecting it.

"That feels weird," he complained. "But so good."

Joe kept stroking him slowly and ran his other hand over the back of his tail, slipping one finger into the opening he found there.

"Oh God, Joe!" Lucas wailed, pushing back hard. "Yes, feels so good. Hurry, I want you in me."

Joe smiled and leaned forward to nibble on his neck. "You're all mine, never letting you go again," he told Lucas softly. He slipped a second finger inside and rubbed against Lucas' prostate. He groaned again and rubbed his tail against Joe's.

Wrapping his arms around Lucas, Joe pushed inside the tight opening, holding Lucas still as he slid all the way in. He kept stroking Lucas with one hand, the other splayed across his chest, holding him close. The water lapped against their bare skin as Joe began a slow, steady rhythm, thrusting in and out of Lucas' body.

Lucas couldn't do anything to control their movement and he whined hungrily, trying to get Joe to move faster. He felt protected and safe but also completely at Joe's mercy as Joe slowly drove them higher and higher.

"That's it, my Lucas," Joe thought softly. "I love you, baby, going to make you mine. Just relax and let me make you feel good."

Lucas sighed and thrust back against him as much as he could. "Please, Joe. Do it harder. I need to feel you."

Joe held him tighter. "Shh. We're doing this my way, baby, but if you want harder, I can do that." He bit down on Lucas' neck and went from long, slow, gentle strokes to a hard pounding rhythm, marking Lucas and making him know who he belonged to. Lucas cried out and squeezed his muscles around Joe's cock.

Joe growled and stroked him faster, in time with his thrusts, making Lucas jerk his hips forward. "Yes! Just like that, Joe. Love you," he gasped. A few strokes more and Lucas was coming over Joe's hand, his seed mingling with the salty seawater. Joe growled and bit down again, flooding Lucas with his own come.

He held Lucas tight, lapping gently at the bite mark. "My Lucas," he sighed. "You belong to me and I will never let you go. I love you so much and I'm so proud of you. I was never disappointed with you, I promise."

Lucas wriggled against him, pulling away reluctantly and rolling over in Joe's arms so that they were face to face. He stroked Joe's face gently.

"I love you, too, but I need to go back," he thought sadly. "I can't stay here. I was wrong to try. I belong with the gang and the store and you."

Joe pulled away slightly. "We could have everything down here. Why do you want to go back? You could stay and be with me forever. You made your choice when you jumped off the pier, you can't change your mind now; it's too late."

"No!" Lucas wriggled away, folding his arms across his chest and glaring at Joe. "I have to go back and deal with the consequences of what I did. If Deb and Gina and Corey can all deal with the aftermath, then I can, too."

Joe folded his own arms. "If you leave, you won't have me." He swam closer, thinking in a velvety, persuasive tone. "Come on, baby. Don't you want to stay here with me and forget about everyone and everything else?"

Lucas pushed him away, feeling something was wrong. "No. And Joe would never ask me to do that. Let me go, you're not my Joe."

"If you want to go back, open your eyes," Joe thought. "Open your eyes."

Lucas felt as if his head was spinning and his thoughts were all fractured and slow like his head was full of cotton wool.

"Open your eyes, Lucas," Joe's voice insisted. "Come on, Lucas. Do it for me, open your eyes, please."

Lucas blinked a couple of times, making a small sound of protest at the bright light and the feeling of something hard and uncomfortable beneath him. He looked up into Joe's worried face.

"You're a merman," he choked.

Joe looked incredibly relieved when he opened his eyes and then very confused when he told him that.

"Oh thank God, you're alive," he said, brushing tears from his eyes. "I'm a what? Lucas you're not making sense. I'm your boss, your friend, remember? It's me, Joe."

"All wet," Lucas rasped, his throat hurting him with every word.

"That's because he had to dive into the ocean and pull you out," another voice said.

Lucas turned his head slightly to see and EMT leaning over him. "Now you're awake, let's get you to the emergency room so we can check you both out."

"Emergency room?" Lucas looked back at Joe. "You're hurt?"

"I'm fine," Joe promised him. "They just want to check me out after my dip in the ocean. I'll be right beside you all the way, I promise." He touched Lucas' cheek gently. "I never meant to make you feel so bad, Lucas. Promise me you won't do anything like this ever again, come to me instead and tell me what's wrong." He leaned close and kissed Lucas' forehead, whispering, "I love you."

Lucas looked into his eyes and smiled radiantly. "I dreamed you saying that."

Joe's eyes were watery as they loaded Lucas onto the stretcher. Reaching out, Joe grabbed his hand and walked beside him to the ambulance. He climbed in next to him and held his hand for the entire trip. As they were being unloaded Lucas reached up and pulled a string of red seaweed out of Joe's hair.

"What's this?" he asked in confusion. He'd only seen it one place before, in the seaweed trees in the hidden valley Joe the merman had showed him.

Joe shrugged carelessly. "Must have got in there when I was pulling you out. Forget about it, love. You're mine now and I'm never letting you go." He leaned down to kiss him softly. "You're home where you belong."


End file.
